Darkness and Light
by Roquis
Summary: Super Max is always out to save the day and the girl. What happens though when a girl's life truly becomes hers? Marshfield, begins in episode 4 so spoilers. Writing before episode 5 is out so will likely become AU. Proper for LiS, no? Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

(a/n: This is my first fanfic in years so it certainly won't be perfect. LiS certainly has given some good inspiration. I'll do my best to post more, especially if reviewers seem to like it!)

...

"Thank you so much for coming, Max," Kate said as she paused again in her drawing. Max, still sitting on the chair across from her, pulled out of her own reverie while just enjoying the silence between them to look over at her friend. "You have no idea how much it means to me. It's like you're my guardian angel."

Max felt her face flush slightly, suppressing the sudden flow of Super Max pride welling up within her. "I just care about you, Kate. I don't like seeing my friends hurt."

"I know," Kate said, laying down her pencil. "You're a good person. Probably… probably the best person I've ever known."

Max tried to stop blushing again, and noticed Kate's eyes flicker to the picture lying on her bedside table. It seemed like the girl was thinking about something, trying to make some sort of decision. "What's the matter, Kate? Is something wrong?"

Kate's eyes flew back to her, and Max noticed a light blush in her face now. "No!" the girl said quickly. "No…" she repeated, more gently. "I just…" Her eyes fell for a moment. "Max…" she said, lifting her face again. "...Is it true?"

"Hmm?" Max replied. "Is what true?"

"I mean…" Kate stuttered, gathering herself. "When I asked about Warren… you know he likes you, right?"

"Yeah…" Max said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Not with Kate at all, but rather the subject of Warren.

"But you don't feel the same way, do you?"

Max blinked. She mostly tried to avoid thinking about it, but when it was laid right out there… "No…" she said quietly. "I don't. I feel bad about it, especially with all the times he's put himself in danger to help me, but…"

"But…" Kate said, now looking more uncomfortable herself. "So is it true?"

Max raised an eyebrow at the girl, still not sure where Kate was going with this.

"I mean…" Kate said, strangely blushing again. "It's something I normally wouldn't ever think of someone, especially someone like you…" She cut off suddenly and looked up at Max.

"Just spill it, Kate," Max said, her curiosity fully piqued by now.

"Do…" Kate began, though seeming unsure started again. "...Are you gay?"

Max stared at the girl across from her. Well that was unexpected. Actually, it made perfect sense with how the girl had led up to it, but just the fact that it came from Kate, super religious, pure, Kate, was unexpected. Wait, Kate's so religious…

"Um…" Max replied, a multitude of confusion in her head.

 _Does Kate know? Well if that's true, then she must hate me since she probably thinks gays are evil or something right?_

 _Wait, how does she know? Max was teased all the time of course, usually by Nathan and Victoria, but she didn't think anyone around her truly knew about her. Not even Chloe did, after all..._

"It's…" Kate said, rushing to fill the silence, "It's okay if you are! Of course you know how my family is and everything, and well, how I am, but I've met a lot of people especially since coming to Blackwell, and you, and you're just such a good person that if you are then it couldn't really be a bad thing like I've always been taught, and… oh, I'm so sorry if you aren't! I don't mean to insult you or anything, or however you'd take it. I've just heard people talking, and I see how you are with Warren and everything…"

"Kate…" Max said, pushing out of her chair to kneel down at Kate's feet, taking a trembling hand in her own. "Don't worry about it. You're not offending me in any way. You just caught me off-guard. But… yes." Despite Kate's words, she hoped she wouldn't regret the truth.

She looked nervously up at Kate, waiting for the righteous judgment that was bound to come down on her at any moment. In the back of her mind she also started preparing to use her power and try to avoid this whole conversation somehow.

What actually happened though she completely did not expect.

Kate smiled.

"I… I see," Kate said, blushing a little again. It was clear she hadn't had many conversations like this before. "So… you like girls, right?"

Max blinked up at her, then almost burst out laughing. Instead her mouth broke into a smile. "Yes…" she said with a little giggle. "That kind of is what being gay means for a girl."

"Stop it," Kate said, swatting at Max's head but hiding a small smile herself. "You're making fun of me."

"I'm sorry," Max said, her smile faltering. "I don't mean to…"

Kate lifted her face again though, showing her smile. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "But if that's true, um… do you… do you have a girlfriend?"

Max blinked again. This was another question she wasn't exactly prepared for from Kate Marsh. "No…" she said without thinking, before a memory of a stolen kiss from Chloe came to mind. Of course Chloe never seemed to think of her in that way. She'd made that very clear multiple times. Plus she was still hung up on Rachel…

When she came back to the present, she looked up to see Kate smiling again. "I see," Kate said.

"Mm Kate?" Max asked. "Why all the questions?"

"Oh…" Kate said, turning back to her drawings and starting to scribble as if avoiding Max's eyes. "I just thought… You're the only one who's been there for me… I've had time to do a lot of thinking here the past few days, and although it goes against everything I've ever been taught… well, I've apparently already made out with like half the school…"

"Kate…?" Max asked, pressure rising within her chest. "What are you saying?"

Kate didn't reply, but her scribbling became more furious.

"Do… do you like me?" Max dared to ask.

Kate's pencil suddenly stopped on her paper. A moment passed as she stared at it, but then she looked slowly back up at Max. "Do you like _me_?" Kate asked, barely above a whisper.

"Of… of course I like you," Max replied, stumbling over herself. "You're, you're a great person, and talented, and…"

Kate shook her head. "But do you like me… you know… like you might a girlfriend?"

Max stared for a second. That's generally what she meant, but it made sense Kate wouldn't be sure. "Yes. Yes, I like you… like that. Kate…" she began, raising her hands to lay them on Kate's sweatpant-covered knees. "Are you saying you want to be my girlfriend?"

Kate just stared back into Max's eyes for a moment before her face broke slowly into a smile again. " _Yes,"_ she said in a small voice, then cleared her throat and said more loudly, "Yes. I want Max Caulfield to be my… my girlfriend. If she wants me, of course."

With that, Max pushed up on her toes between Kate's legs to hug her around her stomach, laying her head on her chest. "Kate, I… I don't know what to say. I never expected that you'd…" She didn't finish though, just closing her eyes as the two girls held each other close.

"Max…" Kate said softly after a short time.

"Mm?" Max murmured, still enjoying the embrace.

"If you're going to be my… girlfriend… then, I want you to show me what people, what girls, do together as lovers."

Max opened her eyes and looked up, seeing the earnest expression on Kate's face. "What… do you mean, Kate?"

Kate's face flushed again, though not too deeply. "Well, I guess I just assumed that… you know…"

Max raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You've probably… been with… someone before, right?"

Max, somewhat anticipating that question, took a deep breath and held it in, then looked down.

"It's okay," Kate said, reaching up to gently stroke Max's hair. "I don't mind. I've been through so much, _needed_ so much. I want you to show me. Show me what love is like."

"Kate…" Max said in a reluctant voice. "I… I don't know if this is the right time." But when she looked up into the girl's eyes she saw moisture, but also a deep, intense yearning.

"Please, Max," Kate whimpered. "Show me I can be loved."

Max suddenly felt inhibitions flee her, and without any further thought pushed herself up further and captured Kate's lips in a kiss. Kate seemed a bit surprised at first at the sudden movement, but unlike her peck on Chloe's lips this time their lips stayed pressed together. Kate quickly recovered and began moving her lips against Max's own, and the girls tightened their arms around each other again as they kissed deeply with all the abundant love they had to give.

Eventually their mouths parted, but they still held each other, gazing deeply into each other's eyes. Max watched Kate stare back with longing, but also unmistakeable anxiety, and after a moment Max pulled back further.

"I… I'm sorry," Max said. "This isn't right. You're not well, and… but I want to, I _so_ do, it's just… I feel like this isn't the right time." She glanced over at the hospital room door with its various signs and the nurse call button set next to the light switch. Never mind the girl who sat waiting beyond it. "Or the place."

"You're right," Kate said, sniffing. "Of course." She relaxed her hold, letting Max pull further away and stand fully up in front of her. However, she still looked earnestly up into Max's face, and a smile broke out across her face again. "You've already made me feel loved. And… and I have you now, right?"

Max just stared back for a moment. "It's so nice when you smile, you know. Until now I hadn't really seen it for a long time."

"Well until now I haven't had a reason to smile for a long time," Kate replied, pulling her legs up under her on the chair.

"Actually, hold on…" Max said, and she glanced around until she spotted her bag. She quickly went to it and found her camera, then turned back to Kate while still crouched by her bag. "Keep smiling," she said, pointing the camera up past the drawing table toward Kate. Kate's smile actually widened as she snapped the photo, and she stuffed the camera back into her back.

"You'll come visit me again soon, right?" Kate asked.

"Of course," Max said, glancing back over her shoulder as she organized her bag and snapped it shut. She grinned. "I have to see how your drawings turn out, after all."

Kate pouted, and picking up her pencil leaned over the table again.

"Just teasing," Max said, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I think now I'm legally obligated to visit my new girlfriend, aren't I?"

Kate looked up, just the hint of a smile touching the corner of her mouth. "You better, Mister," she chided.

"Hey, I'm no Mister," Max replied, and stuck her tongue out before swaying her hips a bit in her secondhand jeans. "I'm a girly girl." Then she spun and reached for the door handle.

"Oh, I want to help you with Nathan too," Kate said, and Max turned to look back over her shoulder again.

Max had almost forgotten about the jackass she and Chloe were about to go after. "Oh…" she said. "Well, I suppose we'll just try and start in the boy's dorm. If I can find his room…"

"I'll find his room number and text it to you!" Kate said brightly, and jumped up to run over to grab Max's arm.

"Thanks," Max said with a smile. "That'll help."

"It's the least I can do, darling," Kate said, giggling and leaning up to give Max a kiss on the cheek. "Nathan Prescott doesn't stand a chance against us."

When Max entered the hall in a slight daze, she could still hear the giggling behind her.

At the sight of her friend, Chloe got up and raised an eyebrow at the door. "She seems to be doing better," the blue-haired girl said suspiciously.

"Yeah…" Max replied somewhat dreamily.

"Super Max strikes again, eh?"

Max's dreamy feeling suddenly abated. "Shut up," she said irritably.

"Come on," Chloe said grabbing her arm and starting to drag her down the hall. "Let's go pay a visit to Nathan Prescott. That little prick is _not_ gonna be happy when he sees us."

Max glanced down at Chloe's hands before getting her feet firmly under her to keep pace. Yes. She totally needed a more complicated life right now. Good going, Max.


	2. Chapter 2

(a/n: This chapter feels quite a bit different from the first, although still very Life is Strange-ish, in big part since it's from Kate's PoV. Hope everyone continues to enjoy!)

...

Kate gasped as she heard the sudden loud knocking at the door of her hospital room, and pulled her attention away from the raging darkness of the storm outside her window as Max burst into the room out of breath.

"Max!" Kate cried, brightening up immediately. When she got a good look at Max's distraught face though, the brightness quickly dulled. "What's wrong?"

"Kate, we've got to get you out of here," Max said, hurrying over to the window to glance outside at the raging storm.

When Kate got a good look at Max, she jumped up and almost felt like she'd have a panic attack. The girl's clothes were disheveled and wet, along with her hair, and streaks of mud adorned her jeans. It also looked like she had blood on her hands and face.

"Oh my God, Max, what happened?" Kate gasped, and hurriedly picked up a rag beside her bed to take to the girl.

"No time to explain," Max said. Her eyes seemed wild and distant. "The storm's coming, and we have to get you out of here."

"The nurse came in a bit ago," Kate said, attempting to wipe the blood and grime off Max's face. "She said the hospital's been secured and we'll be safe in here. You should stay too…"

Max turned and grasped her shoulders. "We're not safe here. _No one's_ safe here. Not in this hospital, maybe not even in this town. You have no idea what's coming."

Anxiety began welling up more quickly now within Kate. "Wh-what's coming?" she asked.

"Just come with me," Max said insistently.

"Okay Max," Kate replied, trying to stay calm. "I'll come with you. Please let me just clean you up a little first though. If the hospital hasn't been destroyed yet, then it'll last another minute."

"...Okay," Max said reluctantly, and let Kate pull her over to a chair to continue cleaning her up.

"What's all this from anyway?" Kate asked, somewhat frantic about the answer but feeling like she needed to keep talking. However, Max stayed silent and just stared at the wall as she cleaned her face and hands. "I don't think we can do anything about these clothes unless you change them, and all I have around here are hospital gowns and some sweats…"

"There's no time," Max said, taking Kate's hand in hers. Then she looked insistently into her eyes. "We really need to leave. Now."

Kate nodded slowly.

She thought they'd have more trouble getting out of the hospital, but it seemed the staff was either running around preparing for the storm or trying to calm frantic patients. The scene outside her room certainly called into question what the nurse had told her about the place being secure, and she clutched onto Max more tightly, starting to wish she'd believed her sooner.

Outside Max led her to a parked truck, and Kate climbed up into the passenger's side as Max took the driver's seat. Kate looked around inside the truck, from the plain interior to the tiny pair of bulls' horns hanging from the rear-view mirror. This did not seem like Max at all, and besides, she never knew Max even had a car.

"Max…" Kate began as Max started the truck up and peeled out. "Whose car is this?" However, Max stayed silent as they tore through town and the torrential rain. There was no one else out on the street; everyone must have shut themselves inside to the storm. The storm was getting very bad, and Kate thought she'd never seen it this dark, but then as the street veered closer to the beach she gasped as she looked out off the coast. A funnel - tornado? hurricane? she wasn't sure; she'd never seen anything like it before - spiraled hug and violently not far out to see. It looked like its edge was just past the lighthouse out on the cliff. Although the funnel was out in the bay, debris still blew all around them that Max just barely swerved to dodge. There were so many close calls Kate thought it was truly a miracle nothing hit them.

"This is Mr. Jefferson's truck," Max said in a low voice, seeming to pay no heed to the insanity all around them.

"Wh… where's Mr. Jefferson then?" Kate asked, unable to tear her eyes from the storm. Dead birds, beached whales, midday dark as night and a storm to end all storms… This was Armageddon, wasn't it?

"Dead," Max said between her teeth. The shock of that word was the only thing that could have torn Kate away from what was going on outside. "I killed him."

"What…?" Kate asked, but next thing she knew she was jolted as Max turned off onto a dirt road, and Kate realized they were out of town. "Where are we going?"

"The dark room," Max replied. Kate was dumbfounded at the reply, but then Max shook her head and glanced over at her. "It's a place I know. We'll be safe there."

The next couple minutes passed in silence, well aside from the raging storm outside and Kate's anxiety that the storm she saw in the bay would hit at any time and toss them a mile in the air where she would fly until Judgment Day, though it still didn't stop all the burning questions within her head. Dark room? Max _killed_ Mr. Jefferson? ...Was she going to Hell after all of her terrible sins lately?

Then suddenly the truck slowed down and Max came to a stop in front of what looked like an old barn. Kate could also vaguely see a worn down and battered farmhouse across the field. Where on earth had Max taken her? Was the girl truly an angel, though not a guardian but one sent to guide her to her Judgment? Or was she a devil here to guide her to Hell? This place sure fit the bill, creepy and foreboding in the midst of the violence of the storm.

It certainly didn't help her thoughts when Max led her into the barn and to a trap door with stairs that led down, down… Max pulled the metal trapdoor shut and the noise from outside dimmed immediately. She guided Kate further in and Kate saw even food and water stacked up on shelf upon shelf. What was all that doing here? When Max shut the inner door the outside turmoil faded away completely.

"What is this place…?" Kate asked, looking around. When she looked at the floor she saw drops of what looked like blood leading back out the door. "This is a bunker. But…" It was all still very strange, for there was also what looked like a full photography studio set up at one end of the room, and more sizable blood spatter on the stage.

"It doesn't matter," Max said, coming over to hug Kate and stroke her hair. "We'll be safe here."

Kate just realized that her knees had become watery, and as her legs buckled beneath her and she sank down, Max sank down with her.

"Max," she moaned, crying into the girl's hair, "What's going on? I don't understand. That… that storm, and Mr. Jefferson, and…" She kept sobbing into Max's hair, and Max just kept trying to calm her, telling her to relax, that it's okay.

"None of that matters now," she said. "We're safe."

After a while they started to hear a low rumble, and they realized the storm must be coming near. They held each other tightly as the rumble deepened, and they started to hear crashing above. The lights began to flicker, and Kate closed her eyes, wishing it would all be over. The wailing of the wind from beyond the door added to the rumbling and crashes from above, but the room stayed solid around them. It felt like ages passed as the two girls cowered in each other's arms, but eventually the sound faded away to nothing again and it was quiet and still as a graveyard.

Kate dared to open her eyes, but there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. She couldn't even see Max, although they still clutched each other tightly.

"Max…?" she asked. "Are you there?"

"Yes," Max replied in a muffled voice, and she felt the girl stir against her.

"I… I think the power went out."

"Yes," Max replied again. "I think it did."

"Do you… Do you think anything's out there? All I see is darkness… Did the world end?"

"If it did then we're still together," Max said.

Kate breathed a soft laugh. "You're right. I guess the power's just out."

Then there was silence between them again for a moment, until Kate felt Max stir again. She couldn't tell what the girl was doing until she felt pressure against her neck, followed by a moist feeling.

"Max…?" she asked, but she continued to feel the moist softness against her neck, and Max's arms tightened around her. It was a very weird feeling since she couldn't see what was going on and had to go completely by her other senses, but she didn't need the addition of soft smacking sounds to realize Max was kissing her neck. She didn't really know what to do, but despite herself felt tingles running up and down her body from every kiss the girl gave.

She sucked in a breath as Max began to suck and then lightly bite at her neck, and clutched tightly at Max's jacket. "Max…" she breathed, as the girl moved up her neck to her chin, and then to her mouth. Max kissed her deeply, this time also pressing her tongue against Kate's lips until she opened them and felt the soft, wet organ quickly filling her mouth.

Kate realized this was escalating quickly, and unexpectedly, but didn't stop Max as she pushed her back onto the concrete floor, didn't stop her as she moved down her body and lifted her shirt to kiss her stomach, didn't stop her as in the blackness she pulled down her sweats and underwear, as Max licked and sucked and caressed to give her feelings she could never have imagined, as Max also apparently got rid of her own clothes somehow, and the two girls became lost in each other, entwined in their passion in the endless night, hardly even realizing when they fell asleep in each other's arms since the darkness in the dark room never changed…

If this was Hell, it sure didn't feel like the type of place she'd always imagined it to be.


End file.
